


The Fairy

by ArthurAlbion, EverettGrendel



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26470933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArthurAlbion/pseuds/ArthurAlbion, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverettGrendel/pseuds/EverettGrendel
Summary: “Watch out!”It was not the words by themselves that made Time falter in his steps, but the way they rang out in the air like tiny bells.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 203





	The Fairy

“Watch out!”

It was not the words by themselves that made Time falter in his steps, but the way they rang out in the air like tiny bells. He spun around in place and realised multiple things within a matter of seconds.

First, it was not Navi. He should have known better. The ache in his chest from the rise of hope and the drop of disappointment was stronger than he was comfortable admitting, even to himself. The fact that he was taken off guard so easily was disconcerting.

Time didn’t recognise the fairy hovering over the edge of the cliff. Something in the back of his mind dully observing it was the same spot Hyrule had disappeared only moments ago, but he had no time to connect these separate trains of thought.

Second, one of Wild’s Moblins was bringing a large club down on his head. Time wasn’t sure how such a large creature had snuck up on him, but this particular battle had been chaotic from the beginning. He and Hyrule had been separated from the others and pushed against the cliffside. They had been holding their own fine until an infected Lizalfos refused to go down quietly and latched hold of Hyrule, knocking the Traveller off his feet and over the edge of the steep drop behind them.

Third, Time did not have enough time to dodge the attack. He threw up his shield desperately, sloppily, knowing that it would not be enough no matter how quick his reflexes were. He had already hesitated at the chime of the fairy and that had cost precious seconds.

A wave of pain shot down his arm and into his shoulder at the impact of the club. The force behind the attack was too strong for him to deflect, and Time had only been fast enough to soften the blow that connected with his head milliseconds later. Stars burst behind his eyes. Time could hear a small wind rush past his ears and all he knew next was darkness.

* * *

Distant, muffled voices were the first thing Time processed as he came to. Gradually, they became clearer and familiar around him.

“-too heavy.”

“We can’t wait around here for him to wake up. We don’t know if there are any more out there.”

Pain burst in Time’s head and he groaned. The conversation around him abruptly cut off.

“Time? Are you okay?”

Time lifted a hand to his head, prodding a sizable bump. Judging from the dampness on his skin, someone had already taken the liberty of wiping some of the blood away. Someone caught his wrist.

“Don’t touch. You’ll make it worse.”

Time blinked open his eye and looked up at the circle of worried faces above him. Hyrule was the one who had caught his hand, Time’s head propped in the Traveller’s lap. He seemed to be perfectly unharmed, despite taking a tumble.

“Are you okay?” Hyrule released his hand.

“Ouch,” Time answered.

Legend snorted. “He’s fine.”

Time closed his eyes against the pain-inducing sunlight and shut out whatever conversation started back up around him. Impulsively, he went to touch his head only for Hyrule to stop him again with an irritated huff. Time began to comprehend the pain also lancing up his right arm, which was already swollen judging from the tightness of the straps on his shield.

Something cold and smooth was pressed to his lips.

“Drink this,” Hyrule said.

Time obediently drank the potion and shuddered as a tingle ran down his spine. Despite the effects of the potion being instantaneous, Time lay for a moment longer with his eyes closed. He mulled over a very different pain that still ached, a cut that ran deeper in his chest, something a potion could not dispel.

Pushing himself upright, Time rubbed his temple and then opened his eye at last.

The corpses of monsters were thickest closer to the treeline where the other Heroes had been during the fight, black blood soaking the ground around them. The Moblin that had attacked Time lay only a few feet away. Time looked around and over the edge of the cliff, but the fairy was nowhere to be seen.

“You were lucky Hyrule was watching your back, Old Man.” Legend commented as if reading his mind.

“Can you walk?” Twilight asked, concern written in every ounce of his features.

Time scoffed gently. “I got hit in the head, not the legs.”

Twilight extended a hand and Time took it, hauling himself to his feet. He could sense a tenseness flood out of his travelling companions as the eldest stood once again. Time felt a bolt of shame at this. It had taken him longer than it probably should have to realise many of his fellow Heroes looked up to him in varying ways, from an unofficial leader to a mentor. He needed to be better than this.

Time scanned the group. “Is everyone alright?”

“Everyone’s fine. You got the worst of it, Old Man.”

“Good,” Time nodded. Twilight frowned.

Ignoring the look, Time slipped the mirror shield off his arm and shook out the phantom aches as he stepped closer to the cliffside, looking down. A frail tree clung to the rocks several feet down, snapped almost in half from some kind of force. He only happened to catch Hyrule’s guilty glance as he turned back around.

“As I was saying earlier, we should get out of here before any more monsters in the area decide to join the party,” Warriors said drily.

Filing away Hyrule’s strange reaction for later, Time nodded again. “Let’s go.”

* * *

They had refused to let Time take any of the watches that night, but their efforts were wasted. Time couldn’t sleep. Rather than make a scene of it, he simply laid in his bedroll with his eyes shut as he listened to the others pick out their shifts and settle down around him. He started a mental countdown.

He sat up in the middle of Hyrule’s shift, the rest of the camp was silent. The Traveller spotted him immediately and gave him his best imitation of Time’s Disapproval Face as the older Hero got up and crossed the camp silently.

“You should be asleep. How are you feeling?” Hyrule asked quietly.

“Aside from the usual aches of old age, fine.” Time’s knees cracked obligingly as he lowered himself back to the ground beside Hyrule.

Hyrule raised an eyebrow at the painful sound but said nothing.

“I didn’t get the chance to thank you yet,” Time said. “I don’t know how you managed to climb back up that cliff in time, but I’m glad to have you on my side.”

He had hoped this would be enough to alleviate whatever guilt Hyrule seemed to harbour over what occurred that afternoon, but his words had the opposite effect. The teenager shifted uncomfortably and looked away, gnawing on his lip.

“You’re not going to ask about the transformation spell?”

Time looked at Hyrule with a blank expression. “The what?”

“The,” Hyrule trailed off, confused. “The, transformation spell? That’s what that was.”

A beat of silence.

“Ah.” Time thought about the unfamiliar fairy, the broken tree on the cliffside that definitely could not have supported Hyrule’s weight.

Hyrule looked upset. “If I had told you guys before, you wouldn’t have been taken by surprise and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

This was said with such finality that whatever rant Hyrule had prepared shrivelled and died in the face of Time’s absolute certainty. There was something in the elder’s tone that suggested it was more than mere sentiment.

“Really?”

“Really. It was not your fault.” Time frowned at the darkness outside of their camp. “Your secrets are yours to keep. I doubt I would have reacted differently, even if I had known.”

A long silence stretched between them and when Time finally looked down at Hyrule beside him, his stomach plummeted at the realisation he had said more than he should.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Hyrule asked.

“No.”

Hyrule nodded silently, clearly intimidated by the abrupt answer.

Time sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily. This had not gone the way he had hoped. “Point being, you shouldn’t be so quick to blame yourself. It accomplishes nothing. If you had been focused on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘who’s to blame’ in the wrong moment, well, I wouldn’t be here talking with you now.”

Hyrule looked up at him, serious and quiet. Time could see the gears turning in his mind, mulling over the older Hero’s words. Time could only hope he had said something right. How did he end up having to play the responsible one? He would never know the answer to that mystery.

Time stood up with a grunt, his back accompanying his knees in a chorus of cracks.

“Thank you again for today.”

“You would’ve done the same,” Hyrule answered, embarrassed.

Time hummed. “I doubt it. Transforming into a fairy is definitely beyond my abilities.”

He smiled to himself as Hyrule made choked noise of surprise and went back to his bedroll.


End file.
